HORIST: How the elite left wins in a right-of-center nation

Larry Horist

8 years ago

Our founders created a governing system predicated on a belief that the government governs best when it governs least&period;&nbsp&semi; They abhorred the very idea of a powerful elite national leadership that would rule over those they considered to be less intelligent, less honorable and less capable&period;&NewLine;The Founders created a system and structure where the influence of government diminished when more removed from we, the people&period; Their intentions were clear when they enacted the Tenth Amendment that states that &ldquo&semi;The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi; &NewLine;That&rsquo&semi;s right&excl;&nbsp&semi; Any power not SPECIFICALLY granted to those folks in Washington is to remain with the people&period;&nbsp&semi; And yet, we have in Washington, a government that has assumed enormous powers in violation of the Tenth Amendment without a peep from those black-robed Brahmans on the Supreme Court&period;&NewLine;The Founders understood that if we the people are to have maximum influence over the laws with which we self-govern, they must be enacted by governments &ndash&semi; local governments &ndash&semi; where we have the greatest access and our voices can be heard individually&period;&nbsp&semi; Just ask yourself one question&period;&nbsp&semi; Would it be easier for you to raise your voice at a meeting of your city council or even state legislature &&num;8212&semi; or to testify before Congress&quest;&nbsp&semi; Can you raise questions directly with a mayor or governor much more readily than the President of the United States&quest;&NewLine;So how is it that a people who long cherished their personal freedoms has allowed the elitist autocratic left to assume more and more centralized control over our daily lives&quest;&nbsp&semi; How did we go from the &ldquo&semi;rugged individualist,&rdquo&semi; whose mantra was &ldquo&semi;don&rsquo&semi;t make a federal case of it,&rdquo&semi; to a wimpish &ldquo&semi;snowflake&rdquo&semi; constituency that looks to government to protect them from all fears and anxieties &ndash&semi; justified or irrational&quest;&nbsp&semi; &NewLine;The power of the public reflected in conservative democratic principles can be overcome in violent revolution&period;&nbsp&semi; But, it can also happen by evolution &ndash&semi; and that is what America is experiencing&period;&NewLine;In the latter process, the authoritarian left engages three areas of influence&period;&nbsp&semi; They are the peoples&rsquo&semi; treasury, control of information and the establishment of a bureaucratic form of government&period;&NewLine;This ever-present danger to the Republic was well known to the Founders&period;&nbsp&semi; Benjamin Franklin famously told a citizen that he and he follow Founders had created a republic &ldquo&semi;if you can keep it&period;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi; Franklin even told future generations how it could be lost when he warned that, <span style="mso-fareast-font-family&colon; 'Times New Roman'&semi; mso-bidi-font-family&colon; Calibri&semi; mso-bidi-theme-font&colon; minor-latin&semi; color&colon; &num;181818&semi; mso-font-kerning&colon; 18&period;0pt&semi;">&ldquo&semi;When the people find that they can vote themselves money that will herald the end of the republic&period;&rdquo&semi;&NewLine;<span style="mso-fareast-font-family&colon; 'Times New Roman'&semi; mso-bidi-font-family&colon; Calibri&semi; mso-bidi-theme-font&colon; minor-latin&semi; color&colon; &num;181818&semi; mso-font-kerning&colon; 18&period;0pt&semi;">Since Franklin Roosevelt&rsquo&semi;s New Deal of the 1930s, the authoritarian left has preyed on human insecurity to persuade the people to &ldquo&semi;vote themselves money&rdquo&semi; in the form of welfare, healthcare, grants and subsidies&period;&nbsp&semi; Expenditures, such as welfare and free public education &ndash&semi; which were once the purview of local government &&num;8212&semi; have been shifted more and more to that far away unresponsive government inside the Beltway&period; &NewLine;<span style="mso-fareast-font-family&colon; 'Times New Roman'&semi; mso-bidi-font-family&colon; Calibri&semi; mso-bidi-theme-font&colon; minor-latin&semi; color&colon; &num;181818&semi; mso-font-kerning&colon; 18&period;0pt&semi;">All concepts of authoritarianism require control of thinking&period;&nbsp&semi; While polls and voting results still suggest that the people of America are right-of-center&period;&nbsp&semi; We are still devoted &ndash&semi; at least romantically &ndash&semi; to the principles of personal freedom&period;&nbsp&semi; We still value our Constitutional liberties&period;&nbsp&semi; But that is fading&period;&nbsp&semi; &NewLine;<span style="mso-fareast-font-family&colon; 'Times New Roman'&semi; mso-bidi-font-family&colon; Calibri&semi; mso-bidi-theme-font&colon; minor-latin&semi; color&colon; &num;181818&semi; mso-font-kerning&colon; 18&period;0pt&semi;">So, how is it that the progressive left has convinced so many of us that our once cherished rights are not quite so &ldquo&semi;inalienable&quest;&rdquo&semi;&nbsp&semi; That the Constitution, and such articulated rights as free speech, religion and local control, are outdated concepts&quest;&nbsp&semi;&nbsp&semi; And that patriotism, itself, is some sort of false religion&quest;&nbsp&semi; That the concept of e pluribus unum must be cast aside for identity politics, political correctness and tribalism &ndash&semi; pitting one group against another&quest;&NewLine;<span style="mso-fareast-font-family&colon; 'Times New Roman'&semi; mso-bidi-font-family&colon; Calibri&semi; mso-bidi-theme-font&colon; minor-latin&semi; color&colon; &num;181818&semi; mso-font-kerning&colon; 18&period;0pt&semi; mso-no-proof&colon; yes&semi;">To accomplish all that<span style="mso-fareast-font-family&colon; 'Times New Roman'&semi; mso-bidi-font-family&colon; Calibri&semi; mso-bidi-theme-font&colon; minor-latin&semi; color&colon; &num;181818&semi; mso-font-kerning&colon; 18&period;0pt&semi;">, the authoritarian left must control information&period;&nbsp&semi; Try to find a dictator who does not control all means of communication&period;&nbsp&semi; Then consider who controls all the means of information in America&period;&nbsp&semi; Who controls the major publishing houses&quest;&nbsp&semi; Who controls most of the news media&quest;&nbsp&semi; Who controls the entertainment industry&quest;&nbsp&semi; Above all, who controls the education systems that instill cultural values in future generations by what is taught &&num;8212&semi; and what is NOT taught&quest;&nbsp&semi; &NewLine;<a name="&lowbar;Hlk525222990"></a>These are all how we educate ourselves on a daily basis and educate future generations&period;&nbsp&semi; The fact that all these existential institutions are controlled by authoritarian elitists explains why so many people in our right-of-center nation dislike what they see and hear on television, in the movie house, on the book stands and in the classrooms&period;&nbsp&semi; Collectively it is a drumbeat of big government propaganda against the long-held values of Americanism&period;&NewLine;In addition to seizing the wealth and the minds of the people, the authoritarian left must impose a controlling structure &ndash&semi; one that is responsive to topside management and not vulnerable to the exercise of popular will&period;&nbsp&semi; It is nothing new&period;&nbsp&semi; It is the empowerment of a faceless, nameless and out-of-reach bureaucracy to run the nation from the top side&period;&NewLine;Bureaucrats, by their very nature, are authoritarian elitists&period;&nbsp&semi; They believe that their own power trumps the opinion&nbsp&semi; or determinations of the public&period;&nbsp&semi; By their own laws, they protect themselves from removal from office&period;&nbsp&semi; The serve in support of elected officials that grant them more power, more money and more personnel&period;&nbsp&semi; Attempting to find a so-called public servant who pleads for less of the above is a task as daunting as Diogenes walking the streets of Athens with a lantern in search of an honest man&period;&NewLine;Since my days in Washington in the early 1970s, I have long described the bureaucracy as the fifth branch of government &ndash&semi; and a branch that is more powerful than the other three&period;&nbsp&semi; The bureaucracy has its own executive, legislative and judicial processes &&num;8212&semi; often operating in defiance of legal constitutional authority&period;&nbsp&semi; &NewLine;While the resistance movement against Trump may be more open and obvious, it is not a new concept&period;&nbsp&semi; I personally experienced the tenacity of the bureaucracy in those days in Washington&period;&nbsp&semi; I saw how bureaucrats in the Office of Economic Opportunity refused to obey presidential orders&period;&nbsp&semi; They hung the obligatory photograph of the President of the United States &ndash&semi; in that case, Nixon &ndash&semi; upside down in the lobby&period;&nbsp&semi; They bragged that they would still be running Washington after elected officials had come and gone&period;&NewLine;The bureaucrats are also tied to the authoritarian elements in a society&period;&nbsp&semi; To survive as a governing force, they must be parasitical to a political establishment&period;&nbsp&semi; That is why most American Bureaucrats are Democrats&period;&nbsp&semi; It is a natural alliance under the flag of authoritarianism&period;&nbsp&semi; Governance by bureaucracy is what you see in China and Chicago, where one-party rule is carried out through the political party structure &ndash&semi; the Communist Party in the Middle Kingdom and the Democratic Party in the Windy City&period;&nbsp&semi; The president of China and the mayor of Chicago are not dictators in the true sense of that word&period; They are &ldquo&semi;bosses&rdquo&semi; that operate more like a chairman of the board&period;&NewLine;This concern over bureaucratic government was clearly expressed by President Calvin Coolidge when he said (emphasis added)&colon;&NewLine;No method of procedure has ever been devised by which liberty could be divorced from local self-government&period; No plan of centralization has ever been adopted which did not result in bureaucracy, tyranny, inflexibility, reaction, and decline&period; Of all forms of government, those administered by bureaus are about the least satisfactory to an enlightened and progressive people&period; Being irresponsible they become autocratic, and being autocratic they resist all development&period; Unless bureaucracy is constantly resisted it breaks down representative government and overwhelms democracy&period; It is the one element in our institutions that sets up the pretense of having authority over everybody and being responsible to nobody&period;&NewLine;The work of the authoritarians in America is abounding&period;&nbsp&semi; You see it in their desire to put bureaucrats in control of elections, campaign finance, redistricting, the appointment of judges, local school systems and the list goes on &hellip&semi; and on &hellip&semi; and on&period;&NewLine;When we speak about &ndash&semi; or hopefully against &ndash&semi; the establishment in Washington, we are talking about that unholy and undemocratic alliance between elected officials, bureaucrats and the public sector lobbyists&period;&nbsp&semi; Though many reject the term &ldquo&semi;deep state&rdquo&semi; as sounding a bit too conspiratorial, a name does not change the nature of the beast&period;&NewLine;When those on the left say that Trump does &ldquo&semi;not understand government,&rdquo&semi; they are alluding to the fact that he came to Washington to upset the apple cart of the authoritarian bureaucracy &ndash&semi; that is the swamp to which he refers&period;&nbsp&semi; When they say Trump does not understand that the Justice Department &ndash&semi; or any Department &ndash&semi; are &ldquo&semi;quasi-independent&rdquo&semi; of his authority, they are saying that the bureaucracy is superior to the Constitution and, ergo, the leader elected by the people&period;&nbsp&semi; It is not a matter of whether one likes Trump or not &ndash&semi; or the issues between him and the Justice Department &ndash&semi; it is a matter of people against the authoritarians&period;&NewLine;I write this commentary at a transition point in my thinking&period;&nbsp&semi; We seem to be getting closer to the tipping point between freedom and oppression&period;&nbsp&semi; At one time, I was optimistic that the personal freedom coalition within the American culture would prevail over the dark forces of authoritarianism&period;&nbsp&semi; Today, however, I am not so sure&period;&nbsp&semi; Authoritarianism is like a political cancer&period;&nbsp&semi; If recognized and removed in time, civic wellness can be restored&period;&nbsp&semi; But if untreated, there comes a time that the malady will terminally conquer and destroy even the healthy portions of the body politic&period;&NewLine;Larry Horist is a conservative activist with an extensive background in economics, public policy and politics&period; Clients of his consulting firm have included such conservative icons as Steve Forbes and Milton Friedman, as well as the White House&period; He has testified as an expert witness before legislative bodies, including the U&period; S&period; Congress, and lectured at major colleges and universities&period; An award-winning debater, his insightful and sometimes controversial commentaries appear frequently on the editorial pages of newspapers across the nation&period; He can be reached at <a href="mailto&colon;lph&commat;thomasandjoyce&period;com">lph&commat;thomasandjoyce&period;com</a>&period;&NewLine;